Gainfreak
New member
As some of you may or may not know, Cliff from Fractal audio had offered to send Kage and I an Axe-fx unit to try out in person after he read a thread that I had posted on Rig-talk, so I took off of work on Friday and I met up with Kage in NYC and then we both walked to Harry Kolbe’s studio where we met up with Tom from Fractal audio.
First off before I even get into a mini review of the unit I have got to say that Tom is one of the nicest guys to deal with and he is also a great player! I think that cliff should be extremely happy that he has a guy like Tom working for him because Tom is one of the coolest guys on the planet and he is very down to earth. I can also add that Cliff is an amazing person in his own rite for even considering doing this and he is also a great guy to deal with as well.
Now for a mini review and I will keep this brief because I will post a full review after I have had more time with the unit. I won’t have time to play around with this thing until Monday because I have been doing the Girlfriend duties this weekend lol!
Ok back on track!! Within minutes of meeting Tom both Kage and I were greeted with a warm welcome. We chatted for a bit and then went into a room where the axe-fx was setup through a tube power-amp and a 4x12 cab loaded with v-30’s. Within minutes of hearing this thing it had already smoked what I heard at the NY amp show. I had always suspected that this thing would sound killer through a power amp and I was MORE then surprised by the end result. Tom took us through the basics of the unit and what I immediately loved is that you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to program the thing!. It’s pretty cut and dry and I found that I was dialing in useable tones within minutes of screwing around with the unit. Of course it did help that I had Tom show me what’s up before I started messing around but I can’t see anyone not being able to get some sounds out of this thing after screwing around with it a bit. Kage used to have a POD pro and I spent hours screwing around with that thing and ended up with a so so tone that sounded like crap when played through a power amp. The axe-fx already smoked any of the LIVE tones that I got out of the POD and I was able to do it in minutes not hours. The POD also cannot compete with the effects that are in this unit. In all honest, the PODs effects are a joke and that’s coming from the heart. Now here is the deal, I have never been a fan of direct recording or going direct into a PA (tried it many times…don’t dig it) and I can honestly tell you that plugging this sucker into a tube power amp KILLS. It is the way that I would use it and I am now 100% positive that when using the Axe-fx in this manor, I could burn anyone into thinking that I was using an amp. The other thing that I noticed is that it felt like I was playing an amp and not a modeler. I know people have said this before but I experienced it first hand. I’m pretty sure that if they had the unit setup like this at the NY amp show that Both Dave and I would have shit our pants lol.
Now on to the down and Dirty, Is everyone going to like this thing? Well no, but it really depends on what you are trying to do. If you just wanted this thing for a direct recording solution then I think that some people might be put off because there are so many solutions for that but if you are a gigging guitar player or you are looking for killer compact rig then I can’t see anything touching this sucker…….. period. I can say this now that I’ve actually had a chance to set it up the way I like.
Some of you might not know this but I have joined another band and I was putting together my rig of doom and I have been running into nothing but problems (ground loops and a whole bunch of other shit) I can tell you that with a midi pedal, axe-fx , a tube power amp and speaker cab, I could do a gig TOMMOROW. This thing also can save touring guitarist a ton of hassles of not having to rent a back line when doing traveling gigs! All you would need is a speaker cab or you could go direct (not my first choice as I have already pointed out lol) and you could take a 4 space rack and midi board on the plane with you.
Cliff, I apologize if my initial comments were taken as being negative but I have got to tell you that what I heard at the show and what I heard a few days ago were night and day! You have done a fantastic job with this thing and I’m pretty sure that I will be selling off some stuff to get one because I’m tired if dicking around with my GCX, amps witching midi rack.
More to come and I’m sure that you guys are sick and tired of hearing about this thing but it is all that and a bag of chips if you have a clear idea of what you want to achieve with it! The unit allows you to literally be an amp builder and design your own tone. I had a MKIV like tone within minutes of using the thing. Cliff, I also have to tell you that you need more gain on the MKIV settings lol I had to add a boost to it in order to get the gain levels up to my MKIV
To quote my buddy Ed Deganaro... this thing slapped my dick into the Dirt and I haven't even gotten started yet!!
More to come !! Kage please feel free to chime in!!
Ralph
First off before I even get into a mini review of the unit I have got to say that Tom is one of the nicest guys to deal with and he is also a great player! I think that cliff should be extremely happy that he has a guy like Tom working for him because Tom is one of the coolest guys on the planet and he is very down to earth. I can also add that Cliff is an amazing person in his own rite for even considering doing this and he is also a great guy to deal with as well.
Now for a mini review and I will keep this brief because I will post a full review after I have had more time with the unit. I won’t have time to play around with this thing until Monday because I have been doing the Girlfriend duties this weekend lol!
Ok back on track!! Within minutes of meeting Tom both Kage and I were greeted with a warm welcome. We chatted for a bit and then went into a room where the axe-fx was setup through a tube power-amp and a 4x12 cab loaded with v-30’s. Within minutes of hearing this thing it had already smoked what I heard at the NY amp show. I had always suspected that this thing would sound killer through a power amp and I was MORE then surprised by the end result. Tom took us through the basics of the unit and what I immediately loved is that you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to program the thing!. It’s pretty cut and dry and I found that I was dialing in useable tones within minutes of screwing around with the unit. Of course it did help that I had Tom show me what’s up before I started messing around but I can’t see anyone not being able to get some sounds out of this thing after screwing around with it a bit. Kage used to have a POD pro and I spent hours screwing around with that thing and ended up with a so so tone that sounded like crap when played through a power amp. The axe-fx already smoked any of the LIVE tones that I got out of the POD and I was able to do it in minutes not hours. The POD also cannot compete with the effects that are in this unit. In all honest, the PODs effects are a joke and that’s coming from the heart. Now here is the deal, I have never been a fan of direct recording or going direct into a PA (tried it many times…don’t dig it) and I can honestly tell you that plugging this sucker into a tube power amp KILLS. It is the way that I would use it and I am now 100% positive that when using the Axe-fx in this manor, I could burn anyone into thinking that I was using an amp. The other thing that I noticed is that it felt like I was playing an amp and not a modeler. I know people have said this before but I experienced it first hand. I’m pretty sure that if they had the unit setup like this at the NY amp show that Both Dave and I would have shit our pants lol.
Now on to the down and Dirty, Is everyone going to like this thing? Well no, but it really depends on what you are trying to do. If you just wanted this thing for a direct recording solution then I think that some people might be put off because there are so many solutions for that but if you are a gigging guitar player or you are looking for killer compact rig then I can’t see anything touching this sucker…….. period. I can say this now that I’ve actually had a chance to set it up the way I like.
Some of you might not know this but I have joined another band and I was putting together my rig of doom and I have been running into nothing but problems (ground loops and a whole bunch of other shit) I can tell you that with a midi pedal, axe-fx , a tube power amp and speaker cab, I could do a gig TOMMOROW. This thing also can save touring guitarist a ton of hassles of not having to rent a back line when doing traveling gigs! All you would need is a speaker cab or you could go direct (not my first choice as I have already pointed out lol) and you could take a 4 space rack and midi board on the plane with you.
Cliff, I apologize if my initial comments were taken as being negative but I have got to tell you that what I heard at the show and what I heard a few days ago were night and day! You have done a fantastic job with this thing and I’m pretty sure that I will be selling off some stuff to get one because I’m tired if dicking around with my GCX, amps witching midi rack.
More to come and I’m sure that you guys are sick and tired of hearing about this thing but it is all that and a bag of chips if you have a clear idea of what you want to achieve with it! The unit allows you to literally be an amp builder and design your own tone. I had a MKIV like tone within minutes of using the thing. Cliff, I also have to tell you that you need more gain on the MKIV settings lol I had to add a boost to it in order to get the gain levels up to my MKIV
To quote my buddy Ed Deganaro... this thing slapped my dick into the Dirt and I haven't even gotten started yet!!More to come !! Kage please feel free to chime in!!
Ralph
yup the weekend Girlfriend duties have gotten in my way of having some fun with the axe FX lol 
